Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Vella Munn will be awarding a several photographs of Montana's wilderness sent via email (international and U.S. giveaway) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Even though I wrote every one of
the four books and novella in the Montana Lakeside series, I still have a hard
time wrapping my mind around what I’ve done. For most of my writing career,
I’ve been content writing stand-alone stories, but that was before a girlfriend
and I were enjoying some quiet time in a small mountain town following a
writers’ conference.

The conference had been a blast but
exhausting, and there wasn’t much left of our brains. All I wanted was to relax
and for her to give me a taste of the Rocky Mountains over the next couple of
days. We’d settled into our rustic cabin and had stepped onto the deck
overlooking a swift-running creek, glasses of wine in hand. I don’t remember
what we were talking about, probably weighty things like where we were going to
go for dinner and how much snow was already at the highest peaks.

A storm started moving in complete
with blue/black clouds and a wind that made a delightful mess of our hair.
Instead of retreating indoors, we wrapped our coats around us and turned our
faces into the wind. At least I did. (A part of me wants to admit my friend
thought I’d lost my mind but I’m nog going to.)

I’m a wilderness gal. I was born
and raised in the mountains with nature in my DNA. I’d spent the past five days
in a Denver hotel surrounded by people. This afternoon was my reward for pretending
to be the extravert I’m not. As I sipped on my wine and waited for the rain to
start, my mind went to thoughts of how much the out-of-doors means to me. How
it defines me. How deeply I need it.

Suddenly I was wide awake, my mind
churning in the delicious way that happens to writers when they get an idea. Excitement gripped me as my
imagination charged into high gear. I vowed to explore and examine what nature
means to me via romance fiction. I could hardly wait to share with readers what
nature can offer to those who embrace it.

In a matter of minutes, a glass of
wine, a receptive listener, and rain now pelting my face, I knew what I was
going to do—write a contemporary series with each book taking place during a
different season so my characters and readers could fully experience everything
from spring warmth to winter snow. I’d also write a novella that takes place in
a single day but carries the same message.

The message? Nature heals. Being
surrounded by nature leads to self-understanding. Nature makes second chances
possible.

His Montana Rescue is the summer
story. I had no trouble deciding on Echo Rose’s career and back story. My
family owns a cabin in southern Oregon’s mountains within an hour’s drive of
Crater Lake. Summer means long days spend outdoors and constant awareness of
fire conditions. Echo is a forest ranger. The year before her story begins, she
was nearly killed while fighting an out-of-control forest fire. She has scars
and PTSD from the experience. Hero Ray Bowen is at the Lake Serene resort to
oversee its restoration and to do all he can to salvage his reputation and put
his life back together following a betrayal that cost him his business.

So there you have it. Two scarred people in a
remote setting trapped by their pasts but needing to embrace the present and
look forward to the future. Needing love.

Former
firefighter Echo Rose may have recovered from the injuries that nearly ended
her life but the emotional scars still linger. She now devotes herself to
protecting wildlife and sheltering her heart until local contractor Rey Bowen
reminds Echo that life can offer so much more.

Rey Bowen
is not the only one at Lake Serene with secrets and a desire to reboot his
seriously derailed life. Meeting Echo reminds him that life can sparkle with
joy and laughter and passion, but can he show the cautious Echo how to love
again even as he struggles to trust his own heart?

Excerpt

“Ranger Echo Rose,” a
rumbling voice said.

Taking it slow, she turned in the direction the words came
from.

Rey Bowen was looking at her, or rather looking down at her.
He wasn’t a giant of a man, just a shade over six feet, but that didn’t stop
her from remembering she was at least seven inches shorter and only one hundred
twenty pounds. For reasons she was careful not to examine too closely, she’d
told herself the breadth of his chest and width of his shoulders were
responsible for her unsettling reaction to him.

What was she thinking? Hadn’t she learned, painfully, to
keep emotional distance between herself and men? She had, darn it. She’d never
drop her guard.

Until she’d done in her ankle, she’d spent much of her time
around physical people, most of them men. She still was around more men than
women, but in recent months she'd mostly rubbed shoulders with people who spent
their days behind desks.

Despite how she'd been forced to earn her living since last
summer, she believed she still understood the physical male. When he was around
women he was trying to impress, the breed carried himself as if he was a bull
elk, strutting a bit, hard muscles pushing against too-tight T-shirts, and
gazes giving out bedroom vibes.

Rey did none of those things. Instead, it was as if he’d
built an emotional wall around himself. The reason was none of her business,
darn it. She had enough to do dealing with her own life.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Vella Munn freely
admits to being a dedicated and sometimes demented fiction writer. She has
always been drawn to nature and those who feel at home in it. A career writer,
she has had way over 60 books published, most of them romances both past and
present. As far as personal statistics go, she has one husband, two sons, four
grandchildren, and is owned by two rescue dogs. Home is southern Oregon within
a two hour drive of Crater Lake. She frequently visits Montana in her mind and
heart.

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Carrie Pulkinen will be awarding $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Blurb

Jules Hume lives in a world where magic is a myth and supernatural creatures are fiction—or so she thinks. As a strong, independent woman, a relationship is the last thing she needs. Then she meets Ian Kincaid, a mysteriously sexy bachelor with otherworldly charm. She's instantly enamored of him, drawn by an inexplicable magnetism. Ian awakens something magical inside her, opening her mind to things she never thought possible. Things that shouldn't be possible. But Ian has secrets Jules is better off not knowing. The truth will tear her world apart, making her question everything she once knew to be real.

Excerpt

And then it happened. Ian looked right at me. Our eyes met, and something inside me burned. It started in my core, and a heat pulsed out through me. My body ached to be close to him. I shivered, and he smiled. I smiled back, then looked away; the intensity of the eye contact was too much for me. If I believed in love at first sight, I would have said this was it. But I didn’t…believe in love at first sight, that is.

“He’s coming over here,” I whispered to Beth.

“Uh-oh.” She looked at Cameron.

“Beth, Cameron, it is so good to see you,” Ian said. He looked at each of them, and then his eyes focused on me as he spoke. “You must introduce me to your friend, Beth.”

I felt electricity prickling my skin, and it gave me goose bumps. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Even under the dress shirt and tie, I could tell his body was exquisite. My fingers twitched with the urge to touch him.

“This is my mom, Jules. Mom, this is Ian.” She looked at him incredulously; then she looked at me and back at Ian again.

“May I join you?” Ian asked as he pulled out the empty chair. He didn’t wait for an answer. “Is Jules short for another name?”

“It’s Juliann, but everyone calls me Jules.”

“Juliann.” The syllables rolled off his tongue like music. My heart melted when he said my name.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Carrie Pulkinen has always been fascinated with the paranormal. Of course, when you grow up next door to a cemetery, the dead (and the undead) are hard to ignore. Pair that with her passion for writing, and you've got the perfect recipe for an exciting storyteller.

Carrie spent the first part of her professional life as a high school journalism and yearbook teacher. She loves red wine and chocolate, and in her free time, she likes to read, take pictures, and play with her kids.

Monday, 28 November 2016

The authors will be awarding digital copies of the books on tour to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Sometimes facing the
future means saying goodbye to the past.

A remarkable story of
love and loss, Dona Sarkar’s latest novel explores the timely subject of
cultural diversity and the timeless matters of trust, faith, and grief through
the eyes of one extraordinary young woman.

Mars Alexander is the
girl who has everything—the right clothes, the perfect boyfriend, the best
grades. But when her military father is declared dead, Mars refuses to believe
it—and refuses to say goodbye. With no body to bury, she’s convinced her father
will return from Afghanistan, and she’s determined to make him proud. But when
she meets the young Middle Eastern instructor of her essay prep class, a door
to a whole new world opens.

Zayed Anwar has lived a
life Mars can barely imagine, or understand. But as he challenges both her
intellect and her emotions, she finds herself making bold new choices, and
looking at everything through a new lens. Falling in love is as frightening as
it is exciting, until she realizes that Zayed is keeping painful secrets from
her—secrets that could shatter her all over again.

New York Times
bestselling author Terri DuLong casts on her newest tale of heartbreak and hope
in Ormond Beach, Florida, a sun-dappled haven where one woman finds the comfort
she’s always needed…

Petra Garfield has no
real attachments tying her down to one place. She’s ready for an adventure, so
what could be better than an extended stay at Koi House with new friends and
old in enchanting Ormond Beach. Having recently lost her mother, Petra is
riddled with questions about the father she never knew. She certainly never
thought she’d begin to find the answers in a tiny town in Florida…

As much as she wants to
search for the truth, Petra knows she can’t spend all her time wallowing in the
past, and her friends at the Dreamweaver yarn shop aren’t about to let her. The
ladies encourage her to volunteer at a local animal shelter, where she hits it
off with a young boy—and his handsome father. Tangled in secrets she didn’t
even know she had, Petra must learn to stitch her life back together even as
she unravels lifelong mysteries—and perhaps she’ll find unexpected happiness
along the way…

Excerpt - Scattered Ashes

“What’s happened out there?” I asked. “There’s so much
chaos.” The woman did an eye-roll. “Some war protesters. They set fire to a
garbage can or something around the corner.”

“Thanks.”

As I ran across the street to avoid the smoky air, I saw a
slight movement, like the fluttering of a giant bird’s wing, in the window
alcove of my favorite coffee shop.

I stopped. It wasn’t a bird. There was a guy sitting in my
usual spot, flipping rapidly through the pages of a book.

The guy in the window seemed completely unaffected by
everything going on outside. He was nineteen, twenty at the most, with
hurricane-colored eyes, the most incredible I had ever seen. His knife-like
cheekbone ridges were even more distinct.

He was a stranger to me, yet I couldn’t stop staring at him.
I stood paralyzed on the sidewalk. The crossing signal flickered, and I
couldn’t persuade my feet to move.

He was reading a book with a familiar-looking burgundy cover
but must have sensed someone staring and looked up. Saying that our gazes met
was an understatement. In one incredible, heart-stopping second, he seemed to
commit to memory every aspect of my face. His abundantly large eyes, too
wide-set, seemed out of place in his sharp, tawny-colored features.

The sidewalk activity seemed to dull into the background as
we stared at each other. Without a smile or any other expression, he returned
to his book, as if the exchange had taken place only in my mind.

I felt the ridiculous desire to knock on the window to get
his attention. I wanted to see the color of those eyes again.

This was insane. Snapping to my senses, I crossed 45th
Street and headed to my car, not daring to look back at the coffee shop. . . .

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Dona Sarkar wishes she’d been born as a cat so she
could have had 9 lives. Since that didn’t work out, she decided to live 9 lives
in this one. She spends her days making holograms at Microsoft, celebrates
diversity in STEM fields as a fashion blogger at Fibonacci Sequins and is
launching her first fashion line called Prima Dona Style this year.

She is also the
published author of three novels and one non-fiction book.

Dona lives in
Seattle with her really patient husband and her muse, a very bossy tabby cat
named Ash. She can be reached at: donasarkar.com; twitter.com/donasarkar; and
facebook.com/donasarkarbooks.

Buy links:

Buying options
at: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/33982

Terri DuLong

Born and raised
north of Boston, Terri DuLong was a previous resident of Cedar Key, Florida.
She now resides on the east coast of the state in Ormond Beach with her
husband, three dogs and two cats. A retired Registered Nurse, she began her
writing career as a contributing writer for Bonjour Paris, where she shared her
travel experiences to France in over forty articles with a fictional canine
narrator. Terri’s love of knitting provides quiet time to develop her
characters and plots as she works on her new Ormond Beach novels. You can visit
her website at terridulong.com or at her Facebook fan page,
facebook.com/TerriDuLongAuthor

Friday, 25 November 2016

Lindsay will be
awarding a digital copy of Wind River Wrangler to a randomly drawn winner via
rafflecopter during the tour.

From the moment Roan
Taggart picked up the pretty redhead at the Jackson Hole airport, his training
and experience told him she was spooked. She’s left New York City to visit the
Wind River Ranch, where Roan is a wrangler, and just as he can pick up a
horse’s mood, he can feel the tension coming off her body. And that
vulnerability is triggering all his protective instincts . . .

Shiloh Gallagher
likes the gray-eyed cowboy’s dry humor—and the Special Forces background that
lends him a stoic, powerful presence. But she’s been scarred by trauma and her
mother’s murder . . . and knows a strong man can be dangerous. She came to
wide-open Wyoming to flee a threat that’s left her unable to write her novels.
Now, as she rides horses with Roan and helps him build an isolated cabin, she’s
slowly letting down her guard. But danger has followed her west, and they won’t
have a future together unless they defeat a killer from her past . . .

Excerpt

“You’re afraid.”

Roan’s low deep voice flowed through her wall of fear. She
saw questions in his eyes. What was she afraid of? “Not of you.”

Nodding, Roan cupped her hands within his spare ones,
studying them. “The fear you have is deep, Shiloh.”

“It has nothing to do with you.” She saw that hooked,
one-cornered smile tug at his mouth. His eyes never left hers; as if he were
memorizing her, burning her into his mind, his heart. His soul? She didn’t want
to go there. Didn’t want to think beyond tonight.

“I think it does.”

Her lips thinned and she looked away, feeling the roughness
of his fingers upon hers. Her flesh was starving for his touch, tiny jolts of
heat flying continuously up her hand and into her wrist as he gently moved them
within his fingers. He handled her as if she were a priceless, fragile being
who might shatter if touched wrongly. Forcing herself to look up at Roan, she
saw his eyes had grown gentle with questions once more. The man inspired trust.
Now she was getting a taste of what he’d said earlier about villagers trusting
the A-team members. Roan cultivated it like breathing.

“I—” she stumbled, frowning. Shiloh felt ashamed in even
admitting it to Roan, but she pushed herself because he was a man of honor. He
presented himself exactly as he was. No games. No mask. No charade. Roan
deserved her honesty. “I don’t have a good track record with men,” she began in
a halting voice. “At a certain point, I break it off...” Shame swallowed her
whole and she couldn’t hold the sympathetic look that she saw come to Roan’s
gray eyes.

“Is that a promise? Or is it a warning, Darlin’?”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
Lindsay McKenna is the pseudonym of award-winning author Eileen Nauman. With
more than 135 titles to her credit and approximately 23 million books sold in
33 countries worldwide, Lindsay is one of the most distinguished authors in the
women's fiction genre. She is the recipient of many awards, including six RT
Book Reviews awards (including best military romance author) and an RT Book
Reviews Career Achievement Award. In 1999, foreseeing the emergence of ebooks,
she became the first bestselling women's fiction author to exclusively release
a new title digitally. In recognition of her status as one of the originators
of the military adventure/romance genre, Lindsay is affectionately known as
“The Top Gun of Women's Military Fiction.” Lindsay comes by her military
knowledge and interest honestly—by continuing a family tradition of serving in
the U.S. Navy. Her father, who served on a destroyer in the Pacific theater
during World War II, instilled a strong sense of patriotism and duty in his
daughter.